Stay With Me
by YoureMyTicket
Summary: Starts after the events of Malfoy Manor in book seven. Centered around Ron and Hermione, because they're the best OTP, and their time at Shell Cottage.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series, nor do I own any part of the humongous Harry Potter Empire. I worship the goddess who is J.K. Rowling, and I am merely borrowing some of her wonderful characters for this little story, which takes place after the events of Malfoy Manor in book seven.**

**Author's Note: This is a R/Hr fluff story. They're just adorable and there can never be enough fanfics about them. Please enjoy and review!**

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**Stay With Me**

Chapter 1

"Stay with me Hermione, stay with me!" Ron sobbed as he carried her to the refuge of Shell Cottage.

Bill and Fleur were running out of the cottage, when they reached Ron, Bill asked, "Ron! What the hell is going on?" Bill looked down at Hermione in Ron's arms and said, "Here, I'll take her," offering his arms out.

"No, I got her." Ron insisted, ignoring the first question.

Ron took a final look back before they went through the doorway and saw Harry and Dobby appear, they both seemed to be okay.

He took Hermione to the living room and laid her on the couch. Immediately Bill, Fleur, Luna, and Dean surrounded them.

Once Fleur started to tend to Hermione's many wounds Ron took a minute to take in Hermione's frail form. Her clothes were torn and dirty, she was so pale, he took her hand, it was as cold as ice, there were small cuts all over her, and then there was the long one across her neck from Bellatrix's knife. Ron chastised himself for not having Hermione teach him some healing spells. Then he remembered…

"Fleur! Hermione has some Essence of Dittany in her purse!" Ron said, jumping up and pushing Fleur aside. He rolled up Hermione's pant leg and took the purse out from her sock. He thought about how if she was conscious, he would have been out the door with canaries chasing after him. He smiled to himself, thinking of less darker, simpler times.

Coming back to reality he started digging through the bag, but ended up getting impatient and took out his wand to summon the bottle. After unstopping it he started applying it to her wounds, starting with the more serious ones, especially the knife cut. When he poured a couple of drops onto it the blood pretty much disappeared and new skin covered the wound, only leaving a faint scar. He moved onto the rest of her face, each time he touched her skin he could feel the warmth starting to come back to her body.

After a few minutes she started to stir. Ron was almost finished when suddenly her eyes flew open, she sprang up and shouted, "No, please, we found it, we found i-"

"Shhh, Hermione, calm down. It's okay, she's not going to hurt you." Ron said, taking her hand again, trying to calm her. She then started to frantically look around the room, he could see the wonder on her face as to where we are.

"We're at Shell Cottage, Bill and Fleur's place."

At the sound of his voice she turned to him, looked into his eyes, and then started to cry.

Ron quickly took her into his arms and tried to soothe her as best as he could.

"Oh, Ron I'm so happy that we're away from that terrible place. That was probably the most horrific thing I've ever been through." she sobbed.

"Well it's all over now and you'll never have to go through that again as long as I'm around."

He examined her face; she looked so pale, weak and tired.

"You should get some rest."

She was about to answer when Bill and Fleur came back into the room with grave news, Dobby was dead, he wasn't able to escape Bellatrix's knife. Immediately Ron felt a huge weight come down on him, they had lost another ally and friend. He looked over to Hermione and tears were already starting to fall. He put an arm around her shoulders.

"Harry is already digging a grave outside." Bill informed us.

"Then I'll go out and help him." Ron said, feeling that it was the least he could do for the elf.

"I'll help too," Dean said from the doorway of the kitchen, "I owe him for getting me out of that wretched place."

"Well then I'll help too." Hermione stated.

"Oh no you're not! You can barely stand and you want to do some manual labor? You missy, are going to take a nice rest." Ron told her.

She was about to retort but Ron gave her a stern look and she hushed down.

"Zen why don't we take you upstairs so you can zleep on a nice comfy bed?" Fleur suggested.

Hermione pursed her lips, thinking of her other options, before saying, "Okay. And thank you for taking us all in."

"It's absolutely no problem, we are very happy to have you here and know that you're safe and sound." Bill said, "Do you want me to help you get up the stairs?"

"Um-" Hermione started to say.

"No I'll take her Bill, why don't you check on everyone else, I got her." Ron insisted.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then. You can put her in the room you used. Ollivander is in the other spare room."

Ron took her hand and she gingerly got up. When she was standing he put an arm around her waist and she put one hand on his shoulder. Then they slowly made their way upstairs.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

When they reached the room that Ron stayed in when he…when he left Harry and Hermione, he took another look at Hermione. She looked better, but she still looked mighty beat up though.

He looked around. The room somehow seemed different than he remembered. The walls still had a green tint to them and there was the window with a view of the sea; white curtains hung around it. There was the twin sized bed and the armchair by the window. Everything was still there, but for some reason it was different; more warm and welcoming.

Ron pulled back the covers on the bed and Hermione propped up the two pillows so that when she got into it, she was sitting up.

"Tell me, how did you all escape the basement?" Hermione asked him with tired eyes.

"Later, you need to get some sleep."

"Oh, come on Ron, do you really think I'll be able to sleep with what just happened?" Behind the exhaustion in her eyes, he could see the curiosity, the thirst for knowledge that could never be quenched.

"Alright, but then you're going to bed." Ron said, pulling up the armchair to the side of the bed.

She smiled and said, "Fine, but you sound should know that you're sounding a lot like your mother."

"Well you do need to rest!" Ron said defensively. "Where do I begin..." He took a minute to gather his thoughts, "You ready?"

"Yes."

"Okay. So after the rest of us were taken down the stairs, which were bloody steep-Harry and I almost broke our necks-we were in this really dark room, it was almost pitch black. Then right after the door closed that evil woman started…she started torturing you." Ron stopped, afraid to go on.

"It's okay Ron, you can continue."

He took a deep breath, "Harry and I didn't know what to do, we, well mostly I, started shouting and then we heard Luna's voice in the darkness. She went and got some rusty nail to cut our ropes, along with Dean and the goblin, that is after we got out my Deluminator. Oh, and Ollivander was there of course, but I could barely recognize him he was so beat up. But after that we didn't know what to do or how to get out of there, I tried to apparating, but that didn't work. Luna said that Ollivander already tried everything and he'd been locked down there for a while. Then Harry started going through that pouch thing that Hagrid gave him for his birthday. He pulled out this piece of glass or something, I don't know what exactly it is or why he has it, but he started shouting 'Help us! We're in the basement of Malfoy Manor! Help us!' Then, a minute later we heard a loud crack and who is but Dobby! So Harry had Dobby take Dean, Luna, and Ollivander here-" Ron stopped when he saw that she had fallen asleep, which was a good thing because she was obviously exhausted and he didn't really want to continue anyway.

He decided there was nothing else for him to do, so he gave her hand a final squeeze and went downstairs to go get Dean to help Harry with Dobby.

Once Ron reached the bottom of the stairs, Bill walked up to him and asked, "Ron, We're happy that you all are back and safe, but what the heck happened? I asked Luna and Dean, but they couldn't tell me what you, Harry, and Hermione were doing before you met up with them."

"Yeah, thanks for letting us all stay here and everything but I'm afraid what the three of us have been doing is confidential, I already told you that last time."

Bill sighed and said, "Oh, come on Ron, why not?"

"I'm sorry Bill, but Dumbledore left Harry and us this task and if we tell anyone, we might not be able to complete it then."

Bill just gave up and walked away, not wanting to start an argument and driving them away after finally seeing them again and knowing they were all alive.

Ron then went to the living room and found Dean sitting on the couch, "Hey, do you wanna go help Harry now?"

"Sure."

They got a couple of shovels and went outside. They spotted Harry over by some flowers, he already started on Dobby's grave. Once they reached Harry, they saw Dobby's lifeless body. They also saw his bloodstained chest and Bellatrix's knife lying next to him on the grass.

Harry didn't look up from what he was doing, but asked, "How's Hermione?"

"Better, Fleur's looking after her." Ron answered.

Then, Ron and Dean got down into the hole and helped Harry finish the grave.

When they were done, they climbed back up and tossed their shovels aside. Harry gave a sad sigh, took his jacket, and wrapped Dobby in it. Ron sat down, took off his socks and shoes, and put them over Dobby's own feet. Then Dean took off his hat and put it on the elf's head.

By now, Bill Fleur, Luna, and Hermione had made it to the spot. When Hermione came up next to Ron she gave him a faint smile and he put his arm around her. She felt so light and frail, he was afraid she would collapse at any moment.

Ron whispered to her, "Are you well enough to be out here?"

She looked up at him, her eyes shining with tears, "I could never miss this; D-Dobby is the reason we all made it here."

"He was pretty brilliant." Ron agreed. "Damn that vile woman. If I ever see her again—"

"Please…stop." Hermione's voice was quivering.

He was making her more upset than needed, "Course, sorry." He shut his mouth and rubbed her arm.

Luna kneeled down next to the tiny body and put two fingers over Dobby's eyes, "We should close his eyes. There, now he could be sleeping."

Now that all of the preparations were finished, Harry took Dobby and laid him in the freshly dug hole.

Luna spoke up, "I think we ought to say something. I'll go first, shall I?"

Everyone looked at her, but none of them objected, so she continued, "Thank you so much, Dobby, for rescuing me from that cellar. It's so unfair that you had to die, when you were so good and brave. I'll always remember what you did for us. I hope you're happy now."

Luna turned to Ron, it was his turn to say something. He took a few seconds to think about what to say. They lost a dear friend today. One who helped prevent him from loosing someone else who is even dearer, and he will be forever indebted to the elf, but at the moment he only managed to clear his throat and say, "Yeah…thanks Dobby."

"Thanks." Dean added.

"Good-bye Dobby." Harry finally said.

Bill took his wand out and the mound of dirt rose and fell evenly onto the grave.

"Do you mind if I stay here a moment?" Harry asked with his head down.

They shook their heads and offered words of comfort before leaving Harry alone and heading inside.

Hermione didn't move at first, but Ron said, "Come on, let's leave him be."

She turned to Ron and nodded. As they walked back to the cottage, he kept his arm around her in case she was still wobbly on her feet. At least, that was the excuse he used.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Before they walked through the doorway, Hermione turned her head and looked towards Harry, "I hope he will be alright."

Ron looked at Harry kneeling in the dirt, "I'm sorry to say, but this isn't his first experience with death. He will do what he has been doing his whole life and carry on."

"I don't know how he does it. I don't think I would have lasted as long as he has without just giving up."

"You," Ron said surprised, "Giving up? I didn't think 'giving up' was part of your large vocabulary."

She smiled as they continued through the threshold and towards the couch.

They sat down on the couch and Ron added, "Even today. You were brilliant, you didn't tell B—her, the truth—"

"So what is the truth?" Bill asked from the bottom of the stairs. Fleur came up right behind him.

"Bill, you know we can't tell you." Ron said, getting annoyed that Bill kept asking him and that he interrupted him complimenting Hermione.

Bill shrugged, "It was worth the try. When this is all over I'm sure you'll tell us everything, right?"

Hermione and Ron looked at each other skeptically. First off, they don't even know if they will have the chance to do that. And then if they did make it out of this all in one piece, they didn't know if they would believe everything that happened.

Bill looked at them with raised eyebrows and then said, "Well, everyone now knows that you—" Bill looked straight at Ron and sat down in one of the armchairs—"are not home sick. So the concerned people at the Ministry are bound to try and get in contact with the family and check up on you."

"Sorry." Ron said, feeling guilty that he was going to cause even more trouble than necessary.

Bill shook his head, "Just be thankful that it happened now so we have a better chance of being prepared. Charlie came back from Romania not too long ago. Fred and George closed down the shop a while ago, so they're been at the Burrow. And we're—"Harry, looking sullen, walking through the door and everyone turned their head but looked back to Bill when he continued, "lucky that Ginny's on holiday. If she'd been at Hogwarts, they could have taken her before we reached her. Now we know she's safe too." Bill turned to Harry and explained, "I've been getting them all out of the Burrow. Moved them to Muriel's. The death eaters know Ron's with you now, they're bound to target the family—don't apologize. It was always a matter of time, Dad's been saying so for months. We're the biggest blood-traitor family there is."

Ron thought they could certainly win as award for that.

"How are they protected?" Harry asked.

"Fidelius Charm. Dad's Secret-Keeper. And we've done it on this cottage too;I'm Secret-Keeper here. None of us can go to work, but that's hardly the most important thing now. Once Ollivander and Griphook are well enough, we'll move them to Muriel's too. There isn't much room here, but she's got plenty. Griphook's legs are on the mend, Fleur's giving him Skele-Gro; we could probably move them in an hour or—"

"No, I need both of them here. I need to talk to them. It's important." Harry paused," I'm going to wash, then I'll need to see them straightaway."

Ron looked at Hermione for an answer, but she looked just as puzzled as he was. Oh well, we'll find out soon enough, Ron thought to himself. I'm usually the least informed one of the bunch.

"Okay then, I guess we will get Ollivander and Griphook set up for him." Bill looked at Fleur, who nodded, and they both got up and went upstairs.

Ron turned to Hermione, "Do you need anything? Are you hungry? Fleur made a quick batch of soup for the other. There should still be some left."

"That would be ncie."

Ron put his arm out, "Stay here, I'll get it."

"Okay." She smiled, took his outstretched hand, and gave it a light squeeze, "Thanks. For everything."

Ron felt his face burning from her sweet smile and how she was holding his hand. He squeezed back, "It's no problem."

He reluctantly let go of her hand and started walking towards the kitchen, saying to himself, "It's no problem at all."

The rest of the day sped as if Ron had rode his broom past it. He replayed some parts in his head while he tried to fall asleep: Harry asking the goblin to help them break into the Lestrange's vault, Hermione going a little overboard calling herself a mudblood, and finding out that Dumbledore himself had the Elder Wand and now You-Know-Who has it!

How on Earth were they going to break into Gringotts though…

Ron's thoughts were interrupted when he heard light footsteps coming down the stairs. It had to be one of the girls.

The footsteps came closer and then, a soft and airy voice said, "Ron?"

Ron opened his eyes and titled his head to the side, "What are you doing up Luna?"

"It's Hermione—"

Ron jumped up, "What is it! What's wrong! Did I put the dittany stuff on wrong, did her wounds open up!"

Harry sat up and looked at them, "What's the matter?"

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but Luna said, "Sorry to wake you Harry, I was sleepwalking and stepped on Ron. We were just sorting ourselves out."

"M'kay." Harry mumbled and laid back down.

Luna put her hands on Ron's arms and tried to restrain him, "Calm down. She's just having nightmares."

Ron gave a sigh of relief, "Oh."

"I've tried to comfort her, but when she falls back asleep she starts having a fit again. She keeps calling out for you, so I thought it best to bring you to her."

"Sure. Yeah, thanks for getting me."

Ron walked over to the staircase, but then realized Luna had never moved, "Aren't you coming?"

Oh no, I don't want to interfere." She said casually.

"Erm, well I'll try not to take long I guess."

"Don't worry about me, I'll find somewhere to go in the meantime."

"Luna, have I ever told you how great you are?"

"No." She simply replied.

"Oh. Well you are." Ron added and then continued up the stairs.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

As he neared the door to the guest room Luna and Hermione were staying in, he could hear faint whimpers coming from the latter. He put his hand on the doorknob and took a few deep breaths before he turned it.

He pushed the door open enough to fit his head in. He whispered, "Hermione?" and took a step inside.

She was tightly wrapped in her bed sheet and she kept twisting her body to try and get out of it, but she was only making it worse. Strands of hair lay across her face, which was contorted in imaginary pain.

Ron could feel his heart beginning to melt as he walked towards her bed. When he reached it, he stood over her and took a moment to look at the scarred girl.

"Hermione." He whispered.

She gave no response. He said her name a bit louder, but there was still no response. He then slowly stretched out a hand and touched her shoulder. She gasped, her eyes flew open, and her arm-which managed to free itself from the tangled sheet-jerked and hit him in the back of the knee. Ron yelped in pain and caught her arm, to prevent her from hitting him again and because it was the closest thing for him to hold onto, as he went down on one knee.

Hermione's eyes went wide when she realized what she did, "Oh Ron I'm so sorry!"

Ron exhaled, looked up at her, and though he said it lightheartedly, there was a serious undertone when he asked, "Why do you hurt me so much?"

Hermione didn't catch the serious part of the question, "I'm sorry, here," she sorted out her bed sheet and scooted towards the other side of the bed, near the wall, "Sit." She lightly patted the bed.

Ron did as he was told, but he felt his ears immediately turn red when he realized that she didn't actually leave enough room for him. He had to sit right next to her leg in order to sit comfortably or risk falling off.

Hermione's eyes flickered to the spot where they touched and then looked down at her hands, "So...what are you doing in here?"

"I was lying down, trying to fall asleep, when I heard a voice coming from my Deluminator. It was your voice, you were saying my name." He paused to take in her expression. The corners of her lips were starting to curve up as she figured out where he was going. He continued, "I stood up, clicked it open, and once again, a blue ball of light came out. Then, it floated into my chest, right here, " He put a hand over his heart, "This time, I didn't apparate though, I just walked right up the stairs." He finished with a smile, hoping that she would laugh instead of hitting him some more.

Hermione looked him in the eye, "Did that really happen?"

"No." He chuckled, "Luna came down and got me."

"Oh." She gave a nervous laugh, "She told you about how I um...could sleep?"

"Yeah." Ron admitted.

"That's embarrassing."

"You shouldn't be embarrassed for having nightmares. You went through something bloody terrible and you are pretty damn strong to only let it get to you in your dreams." He said fiercely.

"Thanks, but I wouldn't call it strength. It's more like me trying not to have a complete breakdown in front of everyone."

"You have the right to have a breakdown in front of everyone as well. More than half the people in this house know what went through and Bill and Fleur know well enough that we haven't been on a nice extended holiday either."

She sniffled, "Could you all…hear everything?"

Ron hesitated, "We could hear Bellatrix yelling, you telling her about the sword, and we could hear you screaming." Ron said the last part very quietly.

There was a period of silence that was broken when Hermione said, "We could hear you yelling."

Ron looked up her somewhat surprised. He thought a charm had been placed on the cellar so that the prisoner's cries for help were muffled and only very loud and sharp sounds, like Dobby apparating, could be heard from above. "You heard me?"

Hermione nodded, "Bellatrix taunted me. She whispered in my ear 'Maybe I should take your boyfriend's offer and _question_ him instead.' She was thinking about bringing you up there and having you watch so you could change your mind. If you didn't she said she would torture you and have me watch." Tears started falling down her face, "I begged her not to and she pretended to think about it before saying she decided to just continue so that when she was done with me no man, wizard or muggle, would want anything to do with me if I managed to live." Hermione was just able to finish the sentence before tears started coming out of her eyes like waterfalls, which she immediately covered by burying her face in her hands.

Ron felt a pain in his chest. It was his heart bursting with sorrow, for what she had to go through, and pride, for how she was able to get through it all. He instinctively moved closer, took her in his arms, and started rubbing her back. She tightly hugged him, buried her face in the crook of his neck, and cried all her troubles away.

"It's okay now. You're safe and I won't let anything like that happen to you again. Ever."

She continued sobbing for a good two minutes and then said in between sobs, "You. Promise?"

"I promise."

It took Hermione several more minutes to calm down. She let go of Ron and started wiping away her many tears, "How am I ever going to sleep?"

"I dunno," Ron answered and looked around the room. He spotted her beaded bag and got an idea, "would you like me to read you a story? From _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_?"

"Aren't most of the stories pretty melancholy?"

"I guess if you really think about it." Ron said, sounding defeated. He tried to save himself, "But there are a couple that are mostly happy, like Babbity Rabbity…or 'The Fountain of Fair Fortune'! Yeah, how about that one?"

"Okay. Yeah, why not."

Ron took his Deluminator out of his pocket, clicked it to turn the lights on, and then leaned over to get her bag from the nightstand.

Hermione motioned for him to give it to her, "Here, I have the translations in a notebook."

"Oh. Right. I forgot it was written in runes." Ron handed her the bag.

Hermione rummaged through the bag for only a few seconds until she found a small red book. She found the page where the story began and handed it to him.

"You comfortable?" Ron asked.

Hermione surveyed the bed. She repositioned her pillow against the headboard to cushion her back and neatened up her bed sheets some more. Then she looked at Ron quizzically. "I'm good, but I don't think you are."

Ron jumped a little in surprise; almost falling off the bed.

"See. You're going to fall off. Why don't you sit against the headboard so you don't have to be all hunched over, and you can stretch your legs out."

Ron looked as though she had just gone ahead and asked him to get under the covers and sleep with her. His ears and face burned. "Um, no. I'm fine."

Hermione gave a small laugh, "You're obviously not fine. Now I don't want to argue, so just come over here. I promise I won't hit you again."

Ron put a hand up in surrender, "Okay, okay."

She moved over to one side of the pillow so that he could lean against the other side.

When Ron had finally started reading, only the fabric of their sleeves touched, but as he went on and Hermione became more and more sleepy, she started falling into him, until her head rested on his shoulder.

By the time Ron finished reading the story, he found himself in a predicament. Hermione had fallen into a peaceful slumber and if he moved, she would certainly wake up, and who knows how long it would take for her to fall back into a nightmare-less sleep. If he moved, she might actually hit him on purpose this time. Ron also needed to get back downstairs so that Luna and him could sleep as well.

Ron decided to turn off the lights and just stay there for a while. Then, he would maybe attempt to move when he thought she was in a deep enough sleep.

Ron didn't get to try out his plan though, for his own head lolled over on top of Hermione's and he soon fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Hermione was first to wake. She rolled over to get up, only to bump into something large and solid. Before she could figure out what it was, an "Ah!" came from the form, and she was suddenly yanked to the floor.

After saying, "Ow." A couple of times and getting her hair out of her face, Hermione rolled over—with caution this time—and faced Ron, who was rubbing his shoulder.

"Ron?"

"Ouch. Yeah

"Did you fall asleep up here? On my bed?"

Ron's face became really red, "Erm. I guess. But how did my blanket get up here?" He held up a green blanket.

Hermione marveled at how the blanket made his hair stand out. "I don't recall you having it with you."

There was a knock on the door and Luna popped her head in, "Are you two all right? I heard a bang."

They both sat up, but it was Ron who answered, "Yeah. Luna, where did you sleep last night? Why didn't you wake me up?"

Luna took a step inside, "I was waiting downstairs, figuring I wouldn't miss you when you came back, but after a while, I decided to check on you and you were both fast asleep. I didn't want to wake either of you, so I just left you. I slept in my bed, I just woke up before you two did. As for the blanket you're holding Ron, you looked quite cold just lying there in your pajamas, so I went back downstairs and brought it up for you."

"Riiight." Ron said, acting as if it all made perfect sense to him, and he wasn't creeped out at all.

"Luna, who else is up?" Hermione asked.

"Everyone except Mr. Ollivander and Griphook, though I think he's just refusing to get up yet." Luna happily answered.

"What!" Ron detangled himself from the mass of sheets and jumped up, "Everyone!" He pulled Hermione up and then started smoothing down his hair.

Hermione ignored Ron's strange reaction, "Okay, thanks Luna, we'll be down in a second."

"Okay." Luna said, and then closed the door behind her.

"What should we say?" Ron asked in a panicked voice.

"What do you mean?"

"Hermione, I never came back down! They'll think we were…you know…up to something."

"Oh. Yes, I see." Hermione's cheeks turned pink, "Um, you can just say that you came up to check on me while everyone else was waking up, and you simply haven't come down till now."

"Me? Waking up early? I doubt any of them would believe that part."

"Just add that you couldn't sleep. Besides, I don't see you coming up with anything else!"

"Fine, fine. Let's go, I'm starving."

Ron looked out one of the windows in the living room and saw Harry sitting by Dobby's grave. Hermione had gone to take a nap, and everyone was basically sitting around, recuperating from the time spent at Malfoy Manor, so Ron decided to go and join his friend.

"Hey mate, how you holding up?" Ron sat down next to Harry.

Harry stared at the headstone, which now read, _Here Lies Dobby, a Free Elf._ "I told him. I told him five years ago to never try and save my life again."

"Yeah, but he was a free elf," Ron motioned to the headstone, "it says it right there. He could do whatever he wanted and what he wanted to do was save you, even if it meant putting himself in danger. It's like chess. The other pieces are constantly putting themselves in danger for the king."

"I don't really like chess; I can never beat you. And aren't you the one they chant 'Weasley Is Our King' for?"

Ron shrugged, "You just need to develop your strategies. Okay, how about, we all put ourselves in danger for 'The Chosen One'?"

"Whatever, I still don't like people putting themselves in danger for me."

"Don't look at it that way then. Look at it that people are doing it to bring down You-Know-Who; to make a better world for their friends and families. You're just the one with the best chance."

"I also don't like being the one with the best chance, but I can't just quit, not with so many depending on me. I don't think you and Hermione would ever speak to me again either. But you don't have to worry about that, I will not give up."

Ron put a hand on Harry's shoulder, "I definitely wouldn't want to be in your position, but Hermione and me do our best to help you, and we won't give up either."

"Yeah, thanks for all your help. Really. I wouldn't have gotten this far without you two." Harry paused, "How is Hermione doing?"

"She's feeling much better I think."

"Do you reckon she'll want to continue after what I caused her to go through?"

"You know her, she can be quite stubborn when she wants to be, and she doesn't like to leave things unfinished." Ron chuckled to himself, "She probably sees this whole thing as a big homework assignment and, as much as I don't like it, she'll do whatever it takes to get a good grade."

Harry gave a small smile, "Do you really believe she sees it like that?"

"I dunno, but I wouldn't be surprised."

Back at the house, Bill took a few steps outside, "Ron! Harry! Dinner is ready!"

Ron immediately stood up and then looked down at Harry, who was still sitting, "Aren't you coming in?"

Harry was quiet for a second and then got up, "Yeah."

As he walked with Harry back to Shell Cottage, there was a pleasant sea breeze that ruffled his hair and refreshed his mood. They were together again and maybe even stronger than before. They got this far; maybe they could make it all the way.

When Ron got inside the kitchen and saw that everyone, including Hermione, was already sitting, he looked at Hermione and said, "What you are doing down here? I would have brought you some food."

Her eyebrows knitted together in skepticism, "If I had let you do that, the plate would have been half empty by the time you reached me. And you are not my servant."

"I would only have a spoonful." Ron admitted as he sat down across from her, "And I'm not a servant, I'm a house-elf—we _will_ be getting many more rights." He grinned.

Hermione gave him a look he had never seen before. Her mouth was half-open and her eyes were wide as she looked at him. Ron was a little scared of it, since he didn't know what it meant, so he busied himself with his utensils.

Then, Luna, who was sitting next to Hermione, asked, "Hermione can you pass the potatoes?"

Hermione continued to stare at Ron.

"Hermione?" Harry said a little louder, and she was brought back to reality.

Hermione turned sharply to Harry, "What?"

Luna asked if you could pass the potatoes."

"Oh, sorry Luna, I just…" She grabbed the plate, turned a deep shade of pink, and muttered to herself, "realized something."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi everyone! Sorry about not updating last week, I was away (I went to England and got to go to King's Cross and Christ Church where they filmed some of the Great Hall and staircase scenes!) I also want to give a late "Happy Birthday!" to Ron! Now read, enjoy, and please review!**

* * *

Chapter Six

Ron knocked on the door.

"Come in." Hermione answered.

He turned the knob and pushed the door open. He looked and saw that Luna was not in bed yet, she must still be visiting Ollivander. He took a step inside, "Hey, how are you feeling?"

Hermione gave a small smile, "Much better."

Ron shook his head, "Good. You think you'll be able to sleep okay?"

She bit her lip, "I don't know. My nap didn't go too well, which is mainly why I came down for dinner so quickly; I needed to be around you all."

"Oh. Right." Ron said, feeling selfish for wanting her to stay upstairs in her room with him, when being around everyone was better for her.

"Ron?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Could you stay for a bit?" She asked nervously.

"Sure." Ron said, trying not to seem too happy.

Hermione shuffled towards the wall and Ron sat on her bed. This time, he was more comfortable with the contact, in fact, he was looking forward to it.

"I hope your shirt has dried from all of my tears."

Ron absentmindedly looked at his shoulder and shrugged. "It was just water, it's fine."

"I'm sorry for breaking down on you last night, but I must admit that I'm secretly glad it was you, I don't think anyone else would have been right."

"I told you before, you can go completely balmy over that whenever you want."

Hermione raised her eyebrows, "Just that?"

"Well I don't want to give you an excuse to go off on me for everything—I do have the emotional range of a teaspoon if you recall." He smiled.

Hermione laughed, "Oh yes, sorry, I must have forgotten."

They stayed in a comfortable silence until Hermione brought up another subject, "You know, I think "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" sort of relates to us."

"You think the fountain would help us?"

"Ron, the fountain doesn't actually exist. No, I'm saying the storyline is sort of parallel to what we are doing. They're on a quest for something that could help their situation, much like our hunt for the horcruxes. We also relate to the characters. Harry's wand was broken and rendered useless, that necklace made you sick in a way, and I…"

"Nah, you've got me mixed up." Ron interjected, stopping her from saying that he broke her heart when he left.

Hermione was surprised, "Are you saying you're suffering from a broken heart? Did you meet someone while you were gone Ronald?"

"Wha—no. I didn't meet anyone, I was here the whole time." Ron said defensively. When he saw Hermione's relieved expression he continued with his original thought, "No, I think I'm most like the knight."

"I should have known. You've always had a thing for being the knight in shining armor."

"You think I'm a knight in shining armor?"

Hermione pondered for a second, "Yeah. Remember first year, when we played that giant chess game?"

Ron smiled to himself, "That was a brilliant game." He saw that Hermione was not very amused and added, "But very dangerous of course."

"And you always like to shoe up when needed, like when I was being…you know…tortured."

"Yeah. Yeah I see. Though I said I was most like the knight, Sir Luckless, because I'm well, luckless, and not very talented or accomplished."

"Oh." Hermione uttered, feeling bad for him.

"But I like your reasons much more." Ron said positively.

Hermione smiled, "Well they're true! You're the most talented and accomplished Weasley there is."

"You're just saying that to be nice."

"No I'm not. You have an award for special services to the school, you're a prefect, a great quidditch player, and you're battling You-Know-Who and his followers! You've destroyed a horcrux for goodness sake! Now tell me which of your family members has done that!"

"None of them, as far as I know." He was quiet for a few seconds as he thought about what she said and then grinned, "Yeah, I guess I am the most accomplished Weasley." His grin soon faded at his next thought though, "I'll never be as great as Harry."

"Don't you start." Hermione said sternly. "You and Harry are two totally different people. Harry had all that fame trusted upon him when he was a baby, he lost his parents in the process, and now he has to try and defeat the most dangerous wizard in the world. He has no say in the matter. He envies you. You have a large, loving family, you had the choice to accompany him on this quest, and you can walk out of it if you want to."

"You're right, as usual. I just tend not to think of my family and not being famous as reasons for him to envy me."

"Well they are, and try not to forget it, though please don't brag about it in front of him."

"I'll try not to and I think being considerate is one of the few emotions that I have."

They were silent and then in a quiet voice, Hermione asked, "You won't choose to walk out of this right? Not again."

Ron's breath caught in his throat; although he had hoped he wouldn't have to talk about it, she had mentioned it too many times in the conversation that it was very likely she would turn it into a future subject. "I didn't choose to leave, the locket made me."

Wrong answer; Hermione became angry, "Don't blame an object for a choice you, and you alone, made!"

"You don't understand what that evil thing did to me!"

"It made you moody and when some little thing set you off, you used it as an excuse to leave!"

Ron stood up, "It didn't make me moody. It made me feel bloody horrible! It got inside my head, my heart, and it found my worst fears. It took them and played them over and over in front of my eyes until I could barely see anything else!"

Hermione frowned and she lowered her voice, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't want to go against something that I thought was true. I was a coward."

"What was it that you thought was true?"

Ron turned away, "Nothing." He started walking towards the door.

"Tell me Ronald." Hermione said firmly.

Ron stayed silent and Hermione glowered at him until she couldn't stand seeing the hurt in his body language anymore. Her expression softened, "Fine. You don't have to tell me now, but I hope that eventually you will so I can help you get past your fears. And I don't mean spiders, I mean the other ones that affect you so much more."

Ron continued to stand still for a few seconds, but then left the room.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the lateness. I tried posting last weekend, but I kept getting errors and then I was away Yesterday and Friday. But enough of my excuses, read on!**

* * *

Chapter Seven

As Ron sat up in his bed and played with his Deluminator, he would frequently pause and look up in the direction of the room Hermione was in.

When Harry settled into his own bed, Ron sucked the lights into the Deluminator for the night. He laid down, but didn't try to immediately fall asleep because he was too busy with the war going on in his head over whether or not he should tell Hermione what happened when the locket opened.

It took him a couple of minutes to finally ask, "Harry?"

"What?"

"What did you tell Hermione about the locket, you know, when we destroyed it?"

"Nothing more than what you heard me say. Why?"

"She wants to know more."

Harry realized what Ron was getting at, "Oh. But you don't want her to."

"No…Oh I don't know!"

"Ron, you know her, she will find out eventually, and she'll probably drive you mad until you do."

"She's been driving me mad since the day I met her!"

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Harry said sarcastically.

"This isn't funny." Ron said with a bit of an edge.

Harry chuckled a little at how serious Ron was, "Sorry," He cleared his throat, "Sorry, erm, I suppose you really just don't want her to know about that one part with…those two people that _looked_ like Hermione and me."

"Obviously."

"Do you want my advice or not?" Harry retorted.

"Yes." Ron said weakly.

"Okay. Now let's think. If you do tell her, you don't have to include the very last part with them, or you don't have to include them at all. You can change who appeared or you can just say you heard You-Know-Who's voice. OR you can just tell her the truth."

"What do you think I should do?"

"Tell her the truth. Ron, I don't think she'll care as much as you do about what those apparitions did. She would never actually say any of those things and she will tell you that herself. If you tell her like you did with your 'tiny ball of light,' you will probably make the whole thing more dramatic and make you look sensitive and heroic or something."

"Heroic? Hmm, maybe you're right."

"That's probably the best thing to do. Okay, night." Harry quickly finished and rolled onto his side.

Several seconds later, Ron added, "I can start telling her and see how she reacts to figure out if I should continue or not. You think that's a good idea?"

"Yeah, whatever." Harry grumbled.

"Yeah." Ron smiled to himself and got comfortable. He would fall asleep imagining Hermione throwing her arms around him after finding out what a horrible ordeal he had to go through and saying how brilliant he was when he stabbed the locket. Yes, this could work out very well.

Ron was actually looking forward to getting up in the morning. He had spent all night thinking of the right words to use and how to say them to have the best effect on Hermione.

He got up and followed the scent of fresh toast to the kitchen. He chose the seat where he would have the best view of the living room and Hermione coming downstairs. No, wait, he would bring some breakfast to her. Yeah, she would love that. Ron smiled at how clever he was.

As he finished eating, he heard someone laughing outside. He felt his stomach drop a bit. A few seconds later, the front door opened and the laughter became louder. Then, Harry and Hermione walked past the doorway to the kitchen. Hermione stopped laughing when she saw Ron.

She ignored Ron and turned to Harry and asked, "Will you be all right?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

She briefly touched his arm and then walked away.

That did it. The confidence Ron had built up crumbled and doubt entered his mind.

_She likes him better. All that talk last night was just her being sorry for me. But Harry said he loves her like a sister, and he loves Ginny. Maybe I'm just overreacting. It was just an innocent walk. They probably weren't even together the whole time. That touch was nothing; Hermione has always been a very comforting person. I'm just overreacting, right? Yeah, I must be. I have to be. You know what, I'm going to talk to her. I have to sort this out once and for all._

"What were you two doing?"

Harry sighed, "Calm down Ron. I went and visited Dobby's grave and Hermione joined me right before I was going to head back inside."

"Oh." Ron tried to say nonchalantly. "But what was so funny?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yeah."

"You."

"Me? Why?"

"She asked me about the locket—"

"Did you tell her?" Ron exclaimed in a panic. Was she laughing at his fears?

Harry narrowed his eyes, "Do you not trust me? Of course I didn't tell her. I only said you would tell her eventually."

"Oh, okay. Yeah, sorry for doubting you. But you still didn't say what was so funny."

Harry shook his head, "Nah, it's wasn't that funny."

"Come on, tell me Harry."

Harry had a hint of mischief in his features, "I said you would tell her once you found a way to put me back into the story."

"Great, now she thinks I'm going to make up the whole thing. Now I'll have to tell her exactly what happened!"

Harry was puzzled, "You _were_ going to lie to her?"

"What? No. Just… tweak some parts." Ron felt a bit ashamed of himself.

Harry glanced over his shoulder and then turned to Ron, "Ron, please listen to me. Go and tell her everything and get it over and done with already. All your whining is getting to be annoying and, hopefully, now I'll be able to be in the same room as her and not have to dodge all of your jealous glares.

"I don't give you jealous glares."

"You do. Now, go and do it before it's too late."

"Fine," Ron stood up, "I'll do it."

* * *

**Saw the Deathly Hallows Part 1 deleted scene with Ron and Hermione skipping stones and oh my gosh it was so adorable! I also read some of the reviews from those lucky enough to see an advanced screening of Part 2 and the Ron/Hermione bits sound uber great, I can't wait to see it!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Ron took a deep breath and knock on the door. He heard Luna say come in. He opened the door and saw Luna sitting on her bed, twiddling something in her fingers. Hermione wasn't in there.

"If you're looking for Hermione, she went to go read in the back garden."

"Okay, thanks Luna." He closed the door and started walking down the stairs when it hit him. If she had gone upstairs to get her book… that means that she had to go back downstairs and walk through the living room to get to the back door. What if she heard Harry and him talking? What if she only heard him say he was going to tweak some parts? Now he definitely has to tell her everything before she gets the wrong idea and decides not to speak to him for the rest of her life.

He almost tripped as he rushed down the stairs and then swung the back door open with more force than necessary. He frantically looked around for her among the numerous flowers-Fleur must have added even more since he left, the backyard looked like a greenhouse-but he didn't see her in the immediate area. He tried to think where in the garden she could go, where would be a good spot to read, or maybe even hide? Then he thought of it. While he was there, during the winter, Bill had said something about putting together a swing once the weather was nice, just something for him to do for Fleur since she had basically become a prisoner in her own house. Bill was thinking about placing it within three sets of trellises, covered by a thick layer of vines, so that while on the swing, there is a lovely view of the hills in the distance. Maybe it was set up by now? If it was, Hermione would certainly be there.

When he got near, he slowed down and quieted his movements. He heard the swooshing of the swing going back and forth. He approached one of the trellises and carefully pushed aside some of the vines to get a look at her. There she was, swinging back and forth, her hair blowing in the breeze. She looked upset. She kept shaking her head and pumping her legs harder and harder as if she was trying to get away from something, probably him. He couldn't stand there any longer. He had to go and fix this.

He stepped into the enclosure and said, "I need to talk to you."

Hermione turned around so quickly that she almost fell off the swing. She also went to take her wand out of her pocket, but it was at Malfoy Manor, and when she realized it, her hand balled up into a fist.

"Oh, er sorry, won't happen again. I need to say something though."

"The tru—" She stopped herself and her noticed her staring off somewhere else and then touch the scar on her neck. She looked at him and softened her tone, "What is it?"

Ron's heart skipped a beat. Was she going to say "truth"? But she didn't, maybe she was going to give him a chance. Well, if she was, he definitely wasn't going to screw it up.

He was going to tell her about the locket, but his thoughts drifted to Malfoy Manor and he instead blurted out, "I'm sorry I couldn't get your wand. I'm sorry I couldn't save you faster."

She looked at him tenderly, "Ron, there's nothing for you to be sorry for. You did everything you could."

"No I didn't." He went and sat down on the bench next to the swing. His voice got louder, "I could have warned Harry about the taboo and then he wouldn't have summoned the snatchers. I could have made up a better cover. I could have—"

"Ron stop."

"But—"

"No." She said forcefully. "Don't blame yourself. Don't dwell on it for one more second. We have to move forward. We have to help Harry and finish this."

There was a minute of silence and then Ron said, "Do you love him?"

She was taken aback, "What?"

"Harry. Do you l-lov—"

"Do I love him?"

Ron looked at the ground and nodded.

"You mean more than a friend? No." She paused and then asked with apprehension, "Ron, is this about the locket?"

Ron felt like a huge weight was just lifted off his shoulders. He became more comfortable with telling her about the locket, "Yes."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, I want to. You should know what happened and what might happen if we destroy another one."

"Okay, if you're sure about it." Hermione tried to make it sound like she really didn't care if he told her or not, even though she truly did want to know.

Ron took a deep breath, "I'll start from where I left off."

* * *

**I know it's shorter than usual, but something is better than nothing right? I'm leaving for Ireland in a few hours, hence why I couldn't really extend it more, but I hope you enjoyed it! And since it's Easter vacation, hopefully I'll be able to really knock this out.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"I've already told you about the doe, how I found Harry and saved him, right? You remember?"

Hermione nodded.

Ron took a deep breath, "Okay. Then Harry said we should try and destroy the horcrux right then and there. He said he would open it with Parseltongue and that I would have to stab it." Ron shook his head, "I didn't want him to open it though. I didn't want to know if there was anything worse inside it, and there was. You see, I don't think it did the same things to you and Harry as it did to me when I wore it. It would say things to me. Like how I'm worthless and pathetic and how you…how you two didn't need me."

"Ron, you know that's not true." Hermione said, getting off the swing and sitting next to him on the small bench.

"At first, I ignored it. I knew what it was trying to do. But after a while of it saying the same things and showing me how they were true, I started to believe it more and more until I couldn't take it anymore."

"And you left." Hermione whispered with understanding.

Ron looked at her with shining eyes, "I'm sorry."

Hermione went and hugged him, "No, it's my turn to be sorry. I should have tried to help you. If I knew how if affected you, I should have done something to stop it." She broke the hug though kept her hands on his shoulders, "But why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want to look weak." He answered sheepishly.

Hermione sighed, "Why do boys feel like they can never show weakness, even for the tiniest things?"

"To impress girls." Ron smirked, "Did it work?"

Hermione put her hands on her hips. "No! Look at what it made you do! Look at how miserable we all became!" She chastised.

Ron looked down, "Yeah, you're right. Well how about this next part? I—"

"You don't have to continue. I understand now." She said, her voice soft again.

"For once, you're wrong. I have to continue. I have to get this over with."

Hermione stared at him and then said, "If you insist."

"Right, so just like I have to do this, I had to get rid of that bloody locket once and for all. Harry spoke to it, it opened, and a pair of dark eyes appeared in the windows on the inside. I was about to stab it when it said, 'I have seen your heart, and it is mine.' And that stopped me. Everything it had ever said to me flooded my mind and it said it again there. Then the worst part came."

Hermione help her breath.

"You and Harry came out of the locket."

"What?"

"They were weird though. They definitely looked like you two but sort of, well, perfect, but in an evil way. They were scary."

"That doesn't make much sense."

"It's hard to describe and not an image that I like to dwell on." Ron said in defense. "These visions weren't particularly nice to me. They repeated what the locket would say, but it made it worse when it came from them and to finish it off, they…" Ron gulped and quickly said, "theysnogged and I stabbed it." He then closed his eyes and exhaled, relieved that he finally said it.

Hermione's jaw dropped a little. "These versions of Harry and I snogged?"

Ron, who was looking at the ground again, shook his head up and down.

"That's why you asked if I loved Harry?"

"Yes. I had to find out."

"Well, like I said before, I don't." She sensed the discomfort that Ron still had and added jokingly, "I don't think Ginny would like me very much if I did love Harry."

Ron was so relieved that he felt as if he could just float into the sky if he wasn't holding onto the bench he was sitting on. He managed to form words and added in a jovial tone, "She'd try and hex you."

Hermione smiled, "Yes, I'd definitely have to watch my back."

"No you wouldn't, I would help you. I would stop her."

Hermione gave an endearing laugh at how eager he was to protect her, "Even though I think I could take her if I had to, thanks."

"No problem." He smiled. "And I'm sure you could. It might be tough though, Ginny can put on quite the fight."

"Well, thankfully I will never have to worry about getting into such a situation."

"Good, I wouldn't want either of you getting hurt." Ron said, though what he was really happy about was that she said she would never get into that kind of situation. That she would never love Harry more than a friend. Now all he had to do was make sure that she thought of him as more than a good friend.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

They continued to sit on the bench, smiling at each other, until Harry appeared saying, "Oh…there you two are." He noticed their smiles and how close they were and was afraid he interrupted something. "Come on, Griphook wants to discuss some ideas."

Hermione was the first to react. She stood up and said, "Yes, of course."

She started walking away and then noticed Ron hadn't gotten up yet. He was staring into space, lost in whatever he was seeing. "Ron?"

Ron looked up, "What?"

"Aren't you coming?"

"Oh, yeah." Ron said, quickly getting up.

Harry hung back and let Hermione lead the way so that he could say to Ron, "What's up with you? You've been acting odd all day."

"Let's just say things are turning out quite well for me and I should be fine now."

"I wish I could say the same." Harry added with a glum tone.

"Hey. We can do this mate. We're almost there."

"I hope you're right."

The three of them entered Griphook's room and proceeded to set up a table and put a couple of chairs around it.

"As of now, what do we have?" The goblin asked.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked guiltily at each other and it was Harry who admitted, "Not much."

"Well, I thought maybe we could use transfiguration to change our appearances." Hermione offered.

Griphook have a tiny laugh, "You want to try and conceal all three of your identities with a few little spells? And what about myself? You certainly won't be able to disguise me with some changes in appearance."

Hermione turned red at her idea being shot down like that and tried another one, "What if you took polyjuice potion?"

"Who would he turn into though? Unless you have some spare hairs in that bag of yours, we can't make him look like anyone from here, I'm pretty sure all of us are on some sort of wanted list." Harry pointed out.

"You're right, and we'll be going through Diagon Alley where any one of us could be recognized." Hermione admitted. "Unless we go to a muggle town and get some hairs."

"Wait, does polyjuice potion even work on goblins?" Ron asked.

Harry turned to Griphook, "Does it?"

"I do not know. Wizards don't usually let us use it. I don't even know if the effects are the same."

"Why don't we try it out?" said Ron.

Hermione frowned and said, "I don't think we have enough left to do that Ron. I'm afraid we don't have the time or resources to make more either."

Ron sighed, "What else could we do?"

Hermione got another idea, "Harry, what about your cloak? Could Griphook use it?"

"I suppose he could if I use it with him." Harry wouldn't trust the goblin with such an important item.

"Naturally."

"And that would make it look less suspicious if they can only see two of us." Ron added.

"Yes, but you still haven't addressed the one major obstacle—if you want to get into the Lestrange vault, then you need Mrs. Lestrange herself."

"How are we supposed to manage that?" Harry asked, "I am not about to go back to Malfoy Manor and try to kidnap her."

"That is not my problem." Griphook snidely answered.

"What do you mean this isn't your problem? You're doing this with us!" Ron said leaning forward in his seat, his temper rising.

"You should be thankful that I even considered taking part in this plan." Griphook snapped back.

"We didn't have to save y—"

"Ron, calm down." Hermione pleaded.

He looked at her and leaned back, though his hands gripped the arms of the chair.

"We will think about it, okay?" Harry stood up and looked at Ron and Hermione, "For now, I think we're done."

Ron left the room with Hermione following while Harry took care of the chairs and table.

Hermione took Ron into her room to avoid being overheard, "You have to control your temper with him. Please, I know he is hard to work with, but we need him to be able to do this."

"I know. It just annoys me how he doesn't try to help us more and the way he scoffed at your transfiguration idea."

Harry entered the room.

Hermione continued, "Ron, you have to understand that he is doing something that goes against what he is. He is a goblin, who has been taught to dislike wizards and he is going to help the most wanted wizards in the country, if not the world, break into a vault that isn't just heavily guarded to begin with, but break into a place that he has worked to protect."

"Hermione is right." Harry said after closing the door behind him, "Not only is what we are trying to do dangerous, but it goes against everything he is."

Ron looked down, "All right, I'll try to stay calm with him."

"Good and once we do this, we'll be done with him." Harry said optimistically.

"I hope we figure something out soon."

"Believe me Ron, there is no one else that wants this over with as much as me."

"Lunch is ready!" Fleur shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"Come on, I think some food will make you two feel better, especially you." Hermione said, looking at Ron.

"How did you know?" Ron said jokingly.

"You of all people should have learned by now that she knows everything." Harry added.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure." Ron said mischievously. _She doesn't know how much I love her. Not yet._


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat in the living room, content after having a delicious lunch.

"I'm going to go for a walk." Hermione stood up and announced.

"I'll come with you." Ron said with enthusiasm while standing up as well.

"I don't need a chaperone."

"What if you're not fully recovered yet and…what if you pass out and fall and break your neck or something! I don't want to take any chances."

Hermione eyed him, trying to figure out if that was the real reason he wanted to go, "I guess if you're that worried, you can come. I just need to grab my jumper from my room, it can get quite cold when the sun starts to go down."

"No, let me get it." Ron insisted.

"Ron, I am perfectly capable of walking up and down a flight of stairs."

A playful grin appeared on Ron's face, "Ah, you may be able to walk...but I don't think you can run!"

Ron bounded off towards the stairs and Hermione quickly went after him, though with his head-start and long legs, he easily reached the top of the stairs first. He went into her room and started looking around for the sweater. He spotted it on top of the dresser and went to get it.

He heard Hermione say, "Wingardium leviosa!" and the tips of his fingers were only able to brush the fabric as the jumper rose high into the air and out of his reach.

"Really?"

Hermione had a smug look on her face. "Oh, come on Ron, you know it's one of my favorite spells. I couldn't resist."

"It's cheating."

Hermione frowned at being accused of such a thing and retorted, "You didn't establish any rules."

"It's principle. Besides, I was just having a laugh." Ron said in a hurt voice.

Hermione felt bad for becoming a little over-competitive, so she let the sweater drift down and fall into his hands.

Ron looked wide-eyed at it and said in a high-pitched voice, "Mistress has at last given Ron clothes, I am free elf!"

Hermione tried to stifle her laugh, but a small giggle still escaped her. She then composed herself, "You shouldn't joke about that. House-elves are—"

Ron chastised himself for starting her on the subject and tried to find a replacement. He examined the sweater in his hands. "Hey, whose black hair is this?" He held it up, "It's too long to be Harry or Dean's. Unless you met some guy with long dark hair while I was gone?" He joked.

Hermione merely stared at the hair.

"What? What's the matter? You didn't right?"

"I was wearing that the…other day. It must be _hers_."

Ron felt very stupid for bringing up another sore subject. He let the hair float to the ground, "Well we won't be putting you in our polyjuice potion."

Hermione watched the hair fall and then realized something, "Ron that's it!"

She dove to the ground and started searching for the hair.

"What are you talking about? And what are you doing on the floor?"

"We can use it to get into her vault!"

"How—oh!" Ron got down on his knees and started looking for it as well. "Why didn't you think of that before I dropped it!"

"You thought of it!"

"Oh yeah." Ron said and then continued to search the floor.

"I got it!" Hermione exclaimed holding it up.

"Brilliant." Ron added and then laughed, "We must look absolutely ridiculous; scrounging around on the floor for a single hair."

Hermione laughed, "You're right. We probably could have just used accio, but we have it now and that's all that matters. Come on, let's find Harry."

"Sure, but wait."

"What?"

"You will give me some credit for this?"

Hermione smiled, "Ron, I'll give you all of the credit."

A wide grin appeared on Ron's face as he followed her out of the room.

"Harry!" Hermione eagerly called down the stairs.

"What is it?" Harry shouted back.

"We have something to show you!"

"Okay, I'm coming!"

"What is with all ze shouting?" Ron faintly heard Fleur say from the kitchen.

"Oh, sorry Fleur, we're done with the shouting now." Harry apologized.

Several seconds later, Harry arrived at the top of the stairs and saw Ron and Hermione both grinning, "What do you want to show me?"

Hermione glanced downstairs and then said, "Come in here," She led them into her room and then cast muffliato, "We don't want Bill or Fleur overhearing. I highly doubt they would like this."

"They wouldn't like what?" Harry asked impatiently.

"Us using this." Hermione held up the single black hair.

Harry looked at it, "Whose is that?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange's." Ron answered for Hermione.

"So…"

"We can use it in the polyjuice potion and get into her vault!" Ron explained.

"That's great!"

"Ron thought of it." Hermione happily added.

"You did?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"I have my moments." Ron proudly said.

"Where did you get it?"

"It was on my jumper." Hermione said in a quiet voice.

"Oh" Harry was sorry that he asked. He then eagerly said, "Well, let's show this to Griphook."

The quickly made their way to the door the Griphook's room and Harry knocked.

They heard the goblin say "Come in."

"Sorry to disturb you, but we found a way to get into the vault." said Hermione.

"Really? How?"

"We found a hair belonging to her. We can put it in our polyjuice potion and one of us can turn into her." Hermione explained.

Griphook nodded, "Very well. It may be your best chance."

"I think it's our only chance." Harry said.

"Now, let me get this straight. So Mr. Potter and I will use his cloak of invisibility, and I assume you will turn into Mrs. Lestrange," He pointed to Hermione, who turned very pale. "But what are we going to do with you?" He pointed at Ron.

Ron, who was busy being concerned about Hermione, didn't have an answer, "Erm…"

"We can transfigure your looks." Harry offered.

"Uh yeah. Yeah, I can pretend to be one of her henchmen and tag along." Ron liked that idea.

"We can figure out the specifics tomorrow, we just wanted to run it by you." Harry said, noticing that Hermione was still pale and hadn't said anything else.

"Yes. Give us all time to think about it." The goblin agreed.

"Great. Bye for now." Ron quickly said, taking Hermione's hand and leading her out the door.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

"Are you all right?" Ron turned around and asked Hermione once they got into the hallway.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but for once, her voice failed her.

"Here, sit down." Ron led her back into her room and they sat on her bed, "What's the matter?"

"I didn't realize I-I would have to t-turn into _her_." Her voice trembled.

Ron's heart broke for her, "Oh, yeah, I didn't think of that either. I guess we got so caught up in the excitement of finding a solution to the problem that we didn't think about what else it would take to get to the answer." He paused and put an arm around her shoulders. He joked, "Just because I had a moment of genius doesn't mean that brain of yours can take a holiday."

Hermione gave a tight-lipped smile, "A holiday would be very nice."

"Well Harry and I will try to give you a short break, right Harry?"

"Yeah, I don't know how long that will last though."

"Okay, we might need some help…but once we're done with this whole thing…you can take as much time off as you want! How about that?"

"That sounds nice."

"So what are we going to do?" Ron asked Harry.

"I guess I'll take the potion."

"But you should stay under the invisibility cloak with Griphook." Ron gulped, "I'll take the potion."

Hermione spoke up, "Do we have to make a decision right this second?"

"No." Harry admitted, "How about we sleep on it?"

Ron and Hermione nodded.

"Okay." Harry saw Ron continuing to look affectionately at Hermione and decided to leave them alone and mumbled, "I have to go…check something…"

Ron gave him a nod in understanding and thanks. He turned his attention back to Hermione, "How are you feeling?"

"Better, it's a bit stifling in here though."

"Are you still up for that walk?"

Hermione's features brightened up, "Of course."

She stood up and took a step towards the door but Ron stopped her, "Will you be warm enough?"

"Oh." She blushed. "I completely forgot the reason this whole thing started." She then went over to her small bag and started rummaging through it. It looked like she just took out the first thing she could find because she quickly grabbed what appeared to be a light cardigan and was on her way to the stairs in no time.

Ron lingered for a moment and picked up the now evil sweater. He recalled what happened the last time Hermione wore pain. He thought about Hermione's reaction to seeing it again and the hair found on it. The sorrow. He wanted to rip it to pieces.

He was about to when Hermione called from downstairs, "Ron, aren't you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be down in a second!" Maybe he should get rid of the sweater for her. Or maybe they could burn it together. That could be a good idea. He would take it with him but keep it out of her sight until he asked her if it was all right.

He saw Hermione waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. As he came down the steps he said, "You can head outside. I just want to tell Bill something."

Hermione nodded and left.

Once, Ron reached the bottom of the stairs, he went over to Bill, who was in the kitchen with Fleur. Bill was bent over his radio, trying to guess to password.

"No luck?" Ron asked.

Bill stood up straight, "No. I'm not trying that hard though. Harry is pretty much the only thing they talk about and well, he's here, as are you and Hermione. And if anything really big happened they would have let us know by other means."

"Right. Well I just wanted to let you know that Hermione and I are going for a walk. I pretty much know where your protective enchantments stop but I don't think we'll be going so far that we would risk going outside them." Ron stopped because he noticed Bill and Fleur giving each other weird looks. He hastened to finish. "My point is, you don't have to worry about us. Okay?" Ron left the room before either of them could say anything.

Ron saw Harry sitting in one of the armchairs in the living room, talking to Dean. He went over to him and whispered, "Can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"A few minutes after I leave, can you just place this outside the front door?" Ron held out the sweater.

Harry looked at him quizzically, "What do you plan on doing with it?"

"Something for Hermione." He mumbled.

Harry lifted his eyebrows in understanding, "Ah, yeah. I suppose."

Ron smiled and handed him the sweater, "Thanks mate."

As Ron left the house, he could have sworn he heard Dean ask, "What happened to the old Ron and Hermione, you know, the ones that bickered all the time?"

Ron imagined Harry rolling his eyes at the question. A lot has happened. He smiled, a lot has happened indeed.

He spotted Hermione waiting for him. She was looking out towards the water and there was a gentle breeze playing with her hair.

When he reached her he said, "Shall we?"

"We shall."

"Here, let's head up there." Ron pointed to a spot where the cliffs were slightly elevated not too far away. "If you're up for it that is."

"I'll be fine, let's go."

"Okay good."

They were quiet for the rest of the walk up the up. They were allowing each other to take in the sights, sounds, and smells of the world around them, and just relax.

It wasn't until they reached the highest point and they took in the beautiful view of the sea and the land in the distance when Hermione said, "It's really nice here."

"Yeah. It's a great place. There's the seclusion, the water, and all the trees. A private getaway."

"It truly is a getaway."

"I have to admit I am jealous of Bill and Fleur. They just got married, they live here, and they're happy, even with this damn war. "

Hermione turned to him, "They're a part of the reason why we must fight Ron. They represent the countless others that can't enjoy their lives because they live in fear. Fear of losing love ones. Fear of being oppressed. Fear of suffering. It's not just Harry's life we are fighting for, it's everyone else who is negatively affected by You-Know-Who and his quest for immortality and power." She paused and looked back out at the water, "It's why I have to become the woman I hate."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Ron was taken aback by Hermione saying she would turn into Bellatrix, "Hermione, you don't have to. I already said I would take the potion."

She faced him and said forcefully, "No Ron, _you_ don't have to."

"But Hermione, sh-she…hurt you. How could you even bear to be her?"

"That's it though. She's hurt other people far worse than me and she must be stopped. If that means I have to turn into her then so be it."

"Yes, she must be stopped, but it doesn't matter which of us turns into her. I will take the potion." Ron's said, his voice rising.

Hermione was getting fired up, "It does matter though!"

"No-"

"Ron! I am saying I will do it! Please don't make this more difficult than it already is!"

"That's exactly the opposite of what I am trying to do! I am trying to make this easier for you! Why won't you let me take the potion!"

"Because I have to!" Hermione shouted. Tears started flowing from her eyes.

Ron calmed down at the sight of her tears, "But why?"

"Because once You-Know-Who is dead and that witch has been captured, I want to go up to her and tell her that it was her fault her beloved Master is dead. We got the horcrux her Master trusted her to keep safe because she was foolish enough to give us all of the means to break into her vault. And it was me, a Mudblood, who turned into her so that we could simply stroll through the front doors of Gingotts." Hermione barely finished before she fully burst into tears.

Ron quickly closed the distance between then and wrapped her in his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder. It pained Ron to see her so upset, but he was also amazed at how strong she was. She was willing to become the woman who tortured her not only for the benefit of others, but for the benefit of herself. It would be her revenge. "She picked the wrong person to hurt and we are going to make her regret it."

Hermione calmed down enough to whisper, "Can I tell you something though?"

Ron stroked her hair, "Sure."

"I am set on taking the potion and there's no changing my mind about it, but…I am s-scared Ron."

"It's going to be okay. I'll be right there with you." He stopped to think about it for a second, "Disguising me as a henchman is still part of the plan right?"

"I hope so. I don't think I could pull off being her all by myself."

"Okay good." Ron said and then realized how it could be taken the wrong way, "I mean, it's good that I'm going to be a henchman. I wasn't saying it is good that you are incapable of being believable on your own—which I'm sure you could be—"

Hermione chucked a little, "It's okay Ron, I understood what you meant."

"Oh, you did. Okay." Ron hoped the redness in his cheeks would quickly fade.

Ron and Hermione still held onto each other, cherishing the contact. Even though Hermione had stopped crying, Ron could feel her shivering and he thought it was time for him to act, so he asked, "Are you cold?"

"A little." Hermione answered slightly ashamed.

"I think I have just the thing." Ron said, trying to hide his excitement. He reluctantly let go of her, took out his wand, and pointed it towards the cottage, "Accio sweater!"

For the next several seconds, Hermione gave him a confused look while he waited for the jumper to make its way to him.

Once it was in his hands, Hermione's eyes went wide when she was certain it was what she thought it might be. "This better have been a mistake."

"It wasn't—" Ron started to say.

"How dare you! Y—"

Ron dropped the jumper and put his hands up in front of him as a sign to calm down and also in case she wanted to attack him. "No no no! Wait! Let me explain!"

"Well go ahead and start explaining!"

"I thought maybe we could burn it." He answered with his hands still up in case she didn't agree with that either.

Her expression softened, "Burn it?"

"Yeah. You know, like get rid of the chill along with it and its bad memories."

"Oh. That is a nice idea."

"I thought it might be." Ron said with relief.

"Thanks, and I'm sorry for blowing up on you like that."

"It's okay, I probably should have told you about my plan first."

"That would have helped."

"I'll keep that in mind for the future. For now, let's get rid of this thing." He offered her his wand so she wouldn't have to use the current one she had to use; Bellatrix's. "Do you want to do the honors?"

"Sure, but first," She gratefully took the wand, thanking him for the kind gesture with a smile, and pointed it at the ground. She moved the wand in a circle while she said, "Protego." She saw Ron about to question her so she explained, "We don't want it getting out of hand and starting a wildfire or something."

"Good thinking."

Hermione kicked the sweated onto the now protected patch of grass and took a deep breath. She looked over at Ron, who gave her an encouraging smile. She gave a small smile in return and started to say "Inc—wait!"

"What? What's wrong? Is this too much for you? I'm sorry! I knew it was a bad idea—"

"No Ron, it's okay." Hermione chuckled at how scared he got."But you are right, this is too much for me. You should do it with me."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You deserve to be a part of this just as much as me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I won't do it without you." Hermione said firmly.

"All right." He chuckled, "If you insist."

Hermione held up the wand again and Ron put his hand around it as well, covering her hand halfway.

"Ready?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded her head, "On the count of three. One, two, three-"

"Incendio!" They said in unison.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

"Do me Hermione." Ron commanded.

She looked at his face and tried to picture how it would look before asking, "Do you want me to do anything in particular?"

He said the first thing he wanted to take care of right away, "You can get rid of my freckles." He had always thought he had too many and that they didn't make him look very handsome.

"Okay, here we go." Hermione waved her wand and all of his freckles disappeared.

Ron saw her frown and got nervous, "Did it work? Do I look bad?" He took the mirror they had brought outside with them, to the bench by the swing, and held it up. It had worked; there wasn't a single freckle on his face. He didn't know if he liked it or not. It made his skin look fake. He touched his cheek to make sure it was real. "Why don't you like it?"

He lowered the mirror and caught her blushing.

"Oh, no…it's just that…it's strange seeing you without them." She turned her head and looked into the distance.

During the silence that followed, Ron looked at himself in the mirror for something to do. He eventually broke the silence by bluntly saying, "Can you fix my nose next?" In a lower voice he added, "Make it a little smaller."

Hermione turned her head and narrowed her eyes at him, "Ron, this isn't about _fixing _what you think are imperfections. We're supposed to be making a disguise."

"I know what we're doing." He retorted. "And I didn't say anything about _imperfections_. I was just curious to see what I would look like if some things were different."

Hermione sighed, "You want me to make it smaller?"

"Please?"

She pointed her wand at his nose, "How's that?"

Ron raised the mirror back up and then jumped when he saw his tiny nose, "Woah that's way too small! I look like a bloody rabbit!"

"Hey, rabbits are cute!"

"Well unless you plan on disguising me as one, you can make it a bit bigger."

"Is that better?" She asked several seconds later.

He looked at the mirror, "Eh, it will do." Maybe original nose wasn't as big as he thought it was. "What should we do next?"

"Hmm. Do you want some dimples? They would look very menacing." Hermione tried to sound as serious as she could.

"What?" Ron said, falling for it.

"Joking." She laughed. "I don't even know how to do dimples."

"Oh, well…" Ron tried to think of something else to change and take her thoughts away from his gullibility. "What about a moustache!"

"A moustache?"

"Yeah."

"What kind?"

"I dunno, maybe the one that twirls in at the ends." He said half-jokingly.

"Really?" Hermione knew that it was going to look silly and be a waste of time.

"Come on, I just want to see." He begged.

"Fine." She did the spell and then laughed, "You look ridiculous."

Ron laughed at his reflection and then joked, "I don't know what you're talking about, I think I look quite devious." He twirled one of the ends around his finger.

Hermione chuckled. "Okay, how about we try something more…modest."

It was a very skinny moustache. Ron stuck his tongue out at it, "That's pathetic. Make it fuller."

A second later, Ron could see the hair sticking out from under his nose. It felt like a lot of hair. He looked up and saw Hermione smirk. He was scared to look in the mirror. "Bloody hell! Hermione that's not funny! It look like there's a small, furry animal on my lip."

"You said to make it fuller." Hermione said, feigning innocence.

"Not that full."

Hermione flicked her wand and the moustache became a more normal size.

"That's better." Ron said with content. "I think a goatee would look good with this."

"Okay." She twirled her wand and then said, "How about that?"

Ron raised the mirror. It didn't look terrible, but there was something about this look...He studied his reflection; no freckles, somewhat pointed nose, little beard…and then it hit him—he was trying to turn himself into Viktor Krum! He groaned, "No."

"What, you don't like it?"

"Not at all. Make it a full beard." He asked with urgency.

Ron examined his face as soon as Hermione was done. While it wasn't something he particularly fancied, it was a big improvement from the first one. "Take that." He muttered.

"What did you say?"

He was thankfully easily able to cover his Viktor comment, "Oh, um I said 'I like that."

"You do?"

"Well, I don't love it, but I think it's a good disguise. Much longer hair would help too." He added; eager to distinguish himself from Viktor.

"You think so?" Hermione wasn't too game on the idea.

Ron shrugged, "It wouldn't hurt to see what it would look like."

"I suppose." She twirled her wand. "Ooh, that's way too long, you look like Ginny. Hold on," she said before he could pick up the mirror, "let me shorten it a bit. There."

When Ron was allowed to look, he saw his hair stopping just below his shoulder and Hermione had made it wavy as well. He preferred his shorter hair, but he felt like the long hair went with the disguise. "I look like a wild man."

"You do. But I think it's a good look for the character you'll be playing. We have to change your hair color though. I'm afraid it's very noticeable."

"I thought you might say that." Ron said a little glumly. His was quite fond of his red hair, especially since it was so different from Viktor's.

"Sorry, but we can't take any chances."

"I know." He itched his beard, "Blimey, how does a bloke keep this thing for years. I've only had it for a few minutes and it itches. Do we need it while we change my hair color?"

"I guess not."

A moment later, he was relieved to feel his facial hair disappear."Okay, you can go on now."

Hermione raised her wand but then lowered it for a second, probably lost in thought. The corners of her mouth pointed up and then she made a sweeping motion with her wand. Her eyes lit up and she pressed her lips tightly together.

Ron's eyebrows knitted together, "Are you done?"

She nodded and then her shoulders started shaking. She put a hand over her mouth but she quickly burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" He grabbed the mirror and to his horror, found his hair to be bright pink. "Hey!"

Hermione continued to laugh, but calmed down enough to say, "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

"Oh yeah?" Ron took his wand out, "Well then I guess it's okay for me to do this!" He turned her hair blue. "Haha!"

She stopped laughing and hastily picked up the mirror to see what he had done. "Ron!"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." He teased.

"Then you'll understand me doing this!" She turned his hair green.

They then proceeded to turn each other's hair whatever color they could think of: purple, bright yellow, silver, light blue, and other combinations. They went back and forth, laughing at the colors they were turning each other's hair, until Ron turned hers red and said, "Ha! Welcome to the family, Hermione Weasley!"

Hermione froze and stared at him. He was going to ask her what was wrong with being a Weasley and then he figured it out that she thought his comment was more than a simple joke. He felt his ears turn red and then he tried to fix the awkward situation. "Er, h-here, I'll change it back. We should really be finishing up this whole disguise."

Hermione unfroze and nodded, "Y-yes. Um, why don't I just make your hair dark brown?"

"Whatever you want." He answered, eager to move on.

"Okay." A moment later, she hurriedly said, "I think that's good, do you agree?"

It wasn't a very exciting color, but it was good enough. "Yeah, it's fine."

"Brilliant. Then that's it for your disguise. I think Luna's calling for me, see you later!" She jumped up and dashed out of the swing area, leaving Ron to ponder why he couldn't hear Luna and also how much he liked the way 'Hermione Weasley' sounded.

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm baaaaack! Sorry about the long wait for this chapter, but I was working on another Ron/Hermione fanfic that I wanted finished before the wonderful movie came out. Did I trick you all with the first line? Hehe. (I wanted Harry to ask Ron "Do you and Hermione do it?" after they came back from the Chamber of Secrets in the movie, like Ron asked Harry after he and Ginny went to the Room of Requirement in the 6th one, but they sadly didn't. Oh well) **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know your thoughts in a review please, and I will try not to make you wait too long for the next chapter!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

"Ron, can we talk to you? Alone." Bill added while looking at Harry.

"Erm, I guess." Ron said nervously. He knew where this was going. They were going to interrogate him about what Harry, Hermione, and he had been up to and what they were planning to do.

Harry reluctantly left his seat at the dinner table and went into the sitting room, but not without giving Ron a warning look to make sure he didn't tell them what they were up to. Bill and Fleur sat in the seats opposite of Ron.

Ron took a deep breath and then said in the most confident voice he could muster, "Sorry Bill, but I've already told you, and Harry has already told you that we can't tell you anything. It's important that our plans be kept secret." He hoped that Bill would just give up and stop asking about it.

Bill merely sighed and gave Fleur a pleading look. She said, "Go on."

He then turned back to Ron and while he fiddled with the cuff of his shirt he asked, "Ron, what are your intentions… with her?"

"What?" Ron was completely taken aback. Did he just say what he thought he said?

Bill didn't look very happy that he had to repeat himself, "What are your intentions with her?"

He couldn't believe it. Were they about to question him about Hermione? "Intentions? With who? Luna?" Ron tried to act completely innocent, but he could feel his ears getting redder and redder.

"You know full well who and what I mean."

"Well I might know who, but I still don't get the 'what' part." Even if he didn't already know exactly who they were talking about, there were only three girls in the house and two of them had already been crossed off the list of possibilities.

"Listen Ron, if we are going to let you all stay here without you letting us in on what you've been doing and will be doing, then you at least have to abide by the house rules."

Fleur nodded in agreement.

"Okay, that's understandable." Ron wasn't completely sure where this was going.

"Good. Then keep your hands off each other while you are here." Bill paused and then his voice rose and his tone became almost frantic. "Have you even been using protective spells? Because mum would go absolutely mad if she found out anything. She would hurt me if she knew I let you sleep together and she would kill me if anything happened while you two were under my roof."

"But Bill, we haven't. I swear." Ron said in a somewhat scared voice.

"Oh really?"

"What about zat night you snuck up zere and keeked Luna out?"

So that was what this was all about! They had noticed. Ron's stomach untied itself a little now that he knew where this was all coming from. "That was one time! And I did not kick Luna out, she came downstairs to tell me Hermione couldn't sleep and I went up there to check on her! We just ended up falling asleep…"

Bill and Fleur looked at him skeptically.

"Honestly! Go ask Luna."

Bill stared at Ron for a minute, looking for signs to tell him if he was lying or not, but Ron sat resolute and gave Bill no reason to think he was lying. Once he decided that Ron was indeed telling the truth, he looked over to Fleur to see if she had anything to say. When all she did was give a tight-lipped smile, Bill turned back to Ron. "Okay, I believe you. But I'm serious. I don't want any funny business with you two while you're here."

"Trust me Bill, you have nothing to worry about." Ron then added in a sad voice, "I don't even think she likes me _that _much."

Fleur rolled her eyes as she stood up, "Boyz can be so theck zometimes. Bill, I am going to give Ollivander hiz potion for ze night."

Bill nodded. When Fleur he heard Fleur make her way up the stair he signed and said to Ron, "Sorry about all of that, I had to make sure."

"I understand."

Bill made to stand up but then Ron blurted out, "Bill, how does it feel?"

Bill froze, "How does what feel?"

Ron could feel his ears turning red. He looked down at his hands in his lap, "To be in love."

Bill sat back in his chair and ran a hand through his long red hair as he thought. His hand then went and traced the scars on his face, "She makes me feel like these don't exist. I am overjoyed each morning when I wake up and I see that she is right there by my side. She makes me feel like the luckiest man in the world because she loves me for who I am. I say that I don't deserve her and she laughs her beautiful laugh and says that she doesn't deserve _me_. She doesn't care that I come from a poor, blood-traitor family, and that we have to constantly watch our backs and stay locked in our house because of who my little brother is friends with."

Ron felt guilty. He started to apologize, "I'm sor—"

"Don't be." Bill cut him off. "I'm glad you are because we would still be in this war even if you weren't. This way, I have more information and I can better protect her and my friends and family." He paused, "Well, if you ever actually told us anything that is."

"I had a feeling you were going to ask me about that. But with this, it is better if _no one_ knew."

Bill shrugged, "I had to try."

Ron got up, wanting to end the conversation before Bill could pressure him for more information, whether it dealt with his love life or the horcrux hunt. As he left the room, Bill called out, "Hey Ron!"

He turned around and faced his brother who said, "It was Fleur who wanted me to ask you about…you know. I know mum would have a fit, but I think Fleur is more scared of her—although she tries to hide it—and doesn't want to give mum any reason to dislike her."

"Yeah, I get it. But like I said, you don't have to worry about that anytime soon." Ron finally left the room and was quickly met by Harry, who must have been waiting for him.

"You didn't tell him anything, right?" Harry asked somewhat frantically.

"No."

"You were in there for a while." Harry said worriedly.

"What I can't have a normal chat with my brother?" Ron snapped.

Harry backed off, "Oh, sorry, it's just that what we're doing is important and I don't want anyone getting hurt because they know, especially your family."

Ron calmed down, "I know, believe me, I know."

* * *

**Urgh, I do not like this chapter. It looked so much better in my head** **but I wanted to have a conversation with Ron and Bill** **as well as advance Ron's thoughts and feelings** **and I couldn't think of a better way. So** **please review and tell me what you liked and disliked about this chapter**.

**The next chapter will be about Lupin's visit, so there will be a lot of fluff!**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

"Are you all right Ron? It's taking you forever to make your move." Harry inquired.

Harry was right. Although Ron usually took his time thinking out his next move, he was still fairly quick and he never recalled thinking what to do for _this_ long for any of his past games. He ran his hands through his hair and then said with frustration, "I just can't think straight!" Ron finally grabbed his remaining pawn and pounded it onto the chessboard two spaces ahead.

Luna, who was looking out the window at the rain, said randomly, "Oh, did you and Hermione get attacked by a cloud of wrackspurts?"

"By what?"

"They're little invisible things that get into your head through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy." Harry explained.

Ron looked at Harry questioningly as to how he knew that, but he was more concerned with what Luna was talking about. "Why would you say that? Can she not think straight either?"

"That appears to be true judging by the way she was acting last night." Luna continued to gaze out the window wistfully.

Ron suddenly became very interested in what Luna knew. "What was she doing?"

"She was quite strange. I suppose you know how she likes to read before going to sleep, well last night, she had started reading like usual, but then she would put the book down and mutter something-starting with a 'W' I think-and touch her hair. Then she would shake her head and pick the book up again. She did this for a while until she became frustrated that she was getting distracted from reading and went to sleep well before the time she usually did."

"Really? That's interesting, maybe we did. Thanks for the help Luna." Something was obviously bothering Hermione, but what? She kept touching her hair. He knew that she didn't particularly love her mass of hair, though he didn't see anything wrong with it, but why would it start annoying her so much now? Wait, Luna said that she was muttering something starting with a 'W'. The first word that came to his mind was naturally his surname, and then it clicked. Earlier yesterday, he and Hermione had been working on his disguise, and he had turned her hair red like his and called her a Weasley. Then she sort of ran away. Ron gave an inward groan. She definitely must have took what he said for something more and didn't want to hurt his feelings by telling him she didn't want to be a Weasley and instead decided to avoid him. He should apologize for the misunderstanding.

Ron was torn away from his thoughts when Harry loudly said, "Ron!"

"What?"

"I went already. It's your turn." Harry gestured to the chessboard. "I have a good feeling about this game."

"Oh, er sorry mate." He didn't spend that much time planning his move. He wanted to focus on what he was going to say to Hermione.

He didn't have that much time before Harry eagerly said, "Check."

Ron analyzed the board. He could get out of Harry's check, but then he heard someone coming down the stairs. Hermione. Ron's heartbeat picked up. He looked back at the board, was he really going to let Harry beat him for a girl? They would be leaving Shell Cottage in two days and tomorrow they would be busy getting ready; their nerves would probably be on edge and they would be busy getting ready. He might not have a better opportunity than now. It would also help to let Harry win for once.

Ron made his move and Harry practically jumped out of his seat. Harry grabbed his Queen and advanced it towards the King, "Checkmate!"

Ron pretended to be upset, "How could I not see that?" He sighed, "Good game Harry." He got up and walked to the kitchen, where he saw Hermione talking to Fleur. He also saw Dean in there.

"Do you want me to set the table?" Hermione asked Fleur.

"Oh, yez, and Dean, ef you 'ould get zome wood for ze fire zat would be vonderful." Fleur said as she chopped up some herbs.

Ron faintly heard Luna eagerly say in the background, "I'll help you Dean." And he saw his chance.

"Let me help you with that." Ron grabbed some utensils and went over to the table where Hermione had started putting plates down. She briefly looked up to acknowledge him.

He worked up the courage to ask, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Then why have you been cooped up in your room all day?"

"I've been…reading and going over _the plan"_ She whispered the last two words.

Ron couldn't take beating around the bush anymore. "Why have you been avoiding me?"

Hermione dropped the last plate in place with a "thunk" and spent a lot of time moving it into place. "I-I haven't been avoiding you, I said I've been reading and—"

"Is it because I changed your hair ginger and called you a Weasley? If it is, I'm sorry. I was only having a laugh, I'm sorry if you felt degraded or something."

Hermione looked up at him with wide eyes. "Degraded? Oh no, being called a Weasley is not a bad thing. Actually, I would love to be a…" She trailed off and blushed furiously when she realized what she had almost said. She looked down at the table. "Ron, why does that plate have two knives and no fork? That plate doesn't have a spoon and this plate only has forks."

Ron looked down at the mismatched silverware. "I wasn't really paying attention." He admitted sheepishly.

Hermione gave a small smile and sighed, "I'll fix it. Hand me that knife."

Ron stood there starting at her and thinking about what she said, but his thoughts were interrupted again. This time, it was Luna and Dean coming through the back door carrying some driftwood for the fire.

"…and if you ever come to our house I'll be able to show you the horn, Daddy wrote to me about it but I haven't seen it yet, because the Death Eaters took me from the Hogwarts Express and I never got home for Christmas."

Ron's eyebrows knitted together. "Is she talking about that ruddy exploding horn?"

Hermione raised her own in response and then said loudly so Luna could hear her, "Luna, we told you, that horn exploded. It came from an Erumpent, not a Crumple-Horned Snorkack—"

"No, it was definitely a Snorkack horn," Luna said confidently. "Daddy told me. It will probably have re-formed by now, they mend themselves, you know."

"She'll be very upset when she gets home." Ron said to Hermione, who shook her head and finished putting the forks in their proper place.

They then noticed Bill coming down the stairs, carrying Mr. Ollivander's suitcase while it's owner held onto him arm for support.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Luna walked over to the wandmaker. "I'm going to miss you Mr. Ollivander."

"And I you, my dear," Ollivander patted her on the shoulder. "You were an inexpressible comfort to me in that terrible place."

"So, _au revoir_, Mr Ollivander," Fleur kissed him on both cheeks. "And I wonder whezzer you could oblige me by delivering a package to Bill's Auntie Muriel? I never returned 'er tiara."

"It will be an honor," Ollivander bowed slightly, "the very least I can do in return for your generous hospitality."

Fleur held the case that held the tiara up and opened it to show him. Ollivander lowered his head to get a closer look at the sparkling headpiece.

"Moonstones and diamonds," said the usually silent Griphook. "Made by goblins, I think?"

"And paid for by wizards," Bill added as Griphook narrowed glared at him.

Bill and Mr. Ollivander left once everyone said good-bye. The rest of them went and started eating, though most of them felt bad when they noticed that Fleur spent most of her time looking out the window for Bill instead of eating.

Thankfully, Fleur didn't have to wait too long, for Bill returned before they had finished their first course and said "Everything's fine," he told Fleur. "Ollivander settle in. Mum and Dad say hello. Ginny sends you all her love. Fred and George are driving Muriel up the wall, they're still operating an Owl-Order business out of her back room. It cheered her up to have her tiara back, though. She said she thought we'd stolen it."

"Ah, she eez charmante, your aunt," Fleur said sarcastically as she flicked her wand and had the dirty plates organize themselves in a stack for her to carry to the sink.

"Daddy's made a tiara," Luna stated. "Well, more of a crown, really."

Ron thought of the bust they had saw at the Lovegood's house. He grinned at Harry.

"Yes, he's trying to re-create the lost diadem of Ravenclaw. He thinks he's identified most of the main elements now. Adding the billywig wings really make a difference—"

Luna's explanation was stopped by a loud knock on the front door. Bill, Harry, Ron, and Hermione jumped up and had their wands at the ready. Fleur came scurrying out of the kitchen looking worried like the rest of them.

"Who is it?" Bill asked.

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**A. N. So who got into Pottermore? I did! YEAH! For any of you that are interested, my username is HallowPatronus69. It's brilliant, I know. Feel free to leave me your username in a review! :D**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

"It is I, Remus John Lupin! I am a werewolf, married to Nymphadora Tonks, and you, the Secret-Keeper of Shell Cottage, told me the address and bade me come in an emergency!"

An emergency! Did he find out they were here or did something happen? Ron looked over to Hermione and Harry, who both had worried expressions.

"Lupin," Bill rushed over to the door and opened it.

Remus Lupin walked into the house looking like the miserable weather had got the best of him. He took a moment to collect himself, then his face broke into a grin, and he announced with joy, "It's a boy! We've named him Ted, after Dora's father!"

Ron remained still to register what he had just heard. Though Hermione was much quicker on the uptake and she squeaked with surprise, making him jump.

Hermione had some trouble forming a sentence. "Wha-? Tonks—Tonks has had the baby?"

"Yes, yes, she's had the baby!" Lupin answered gleefully but also with a slight tone that suggested that such a thing should have been perfectly clear to her.

The rest of them seemed to become unfrozen after Lupin spoke. Their frightened and worried expressions relaxed and turned into smiles. Some confusion was evident in Luna and Dean's faces after hearing their ex-professor's news.

Hermione, as well as Fleur, added in two "Congratulations!"

"Blimey, a baby!" Ron said partially to himself. No, he had not forgotten that Lupin had told them back at Grimmauld Place that Tonks was pregnant. It was just that with everything going on, and most of it being bad, it didn't really seem like such a joyous occasion could happen yet.

"Yes—yes—a boy." Lupin said with pure delight. He then walked over to Harry and hugged him. As Lupin relinquished his grip he asked, "You'll be godfather?"

Harry stared at Lupin questioningly, as if he thought he heard wrong. "M-me?"

"You, yes, of course—Dora quite agrees, no one better—" Lupin assured him.

Harry looked dumbfounded. "I—yeah—blimey—"

Ron was glad to see something so great happen to Harry, because he really needed it right now. Ron then looked over at Hermione, who was saying an inaudible "Awe," and he smiled; he loved seeing her like this.

"This calls for a drink!" Bill said aloud and then dashed into the kitchen.

"Oh no you don't have to—" Lupin shook his head.

"We must!" said Hermione.

You 'ave to celebrate with us!" Fleur insisted.

Bill had already returned with the wine and started pouring it into goblets.

Lupin gave in, "I can't stay long, I must get back." He accepted a goblet from Bill. "Thank you, thank you, Bill."

As the rest of the goblets were doled out, Ron turned to Hermione and said in a low voice, "You were very quick to insist on the drinks back there."

She gaped slightly at what Ron was suggesting and slapped his arm lightly, "I wanted just wanted him to stay!"

"Right." Ron said sarcastically.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, but she couldn't hold her serious expression for long. She smiled as everyone raised their goblets in a toast.

"To Teddy Remus Lupin, a great wizard in the making!" Lupin said proudly.

"Oo does 'e look like?" Fleur asked.

"I think he looks like Dora, but she thinks he is like me. Not much hair. It looked black when he was born, but I swear it's turned ginger in the hour since. Probably be blond by the time I get back. Andromeda says Tonk's hair started changing color the day that she was born." Lupin finished and held out his empty goblet to Bill, "Oh, go on then, just one more."

"I vish I could zee 'im with 'is ginger hair. He must look zo precious." Fleur said wistfully.

Fleur and Bill shared a loving look.

"I wish I could see him too." Hermione said as well.

Bill looked over at Hermione and then said to the table's occupants, "I'll have to find a picture of Ron when he was a baby. When he was born, he had a good amount of that red hair already on his head. Mum could not stop going on about how handsome and cute he was!"

Ron blushed as he knew that everyone was now imagining him as a baby.

He heard Hermione giggle next to him and then she said, "Awe, baby Ronald." She pinched his cheek and giggled again.

Ron froze at the contact. Did she just do what he thinks she did? And giggle before and after doing it? The wine must be starting to get to her and he didn't know if he liked it or not.

Before they knew it, Bill was time for Bill to open another bottle of wine. Everyone was getting wrapped up in the celebration and they didn't want the happiness to end.

Yet another goblet of wine was offered to Lupin, but he refused it and started getting ready to leave. "No…no…I really must get back."

"Good-bye, good-bye—I'll try and bring some pictures in a few days' time—they'll all be so glad to know that I've seen you—"

After everyone said their good-byes and additional congratulations, Lupin braced himself to face the cold, rainy weather, and stated walking to the edge of the boundary of Shell Cottage.

"Godfather, Harry! A real honor! Congratulations!" Bill said as he and Harry entered the kitchen to put away the goblets and empty wine bottles. Luna went upstairs to her room and apparently Griphook had already gone up sometime during their festivities. The rest of them went into the sitting room

"Wow." Hermione said and then yawned as she plopped down into an armchair. "Lupin looked so happy. And to think he was so…scared about it ending up badly."

Ron knew she was referring to when Lupin visited them a Grimmauld Place and told them the news. He didn't just look scared, he looked distraught. Good thing Harry talked some sense into him. "It was very nice of them to name Harry godfather. I guess he deserves it though."

Hermione met Ron's eyes. He noticed her eyelids were drooping. She was falling asleep though she was trying to fight it so she could figure out what he was talking about. Although her brain was slowed down a bit, she was still able to realize fairly quickly that he was referring to the same visit. She yawned. "I can't think of anyone else who deserves it more than Harry."

"I can't vait to see ze baby. He sounds zo adorable!" Fleur said wistfully.

"Yes. I…can't…wait…to…baby…" Hermione managed to mutter before sleep overtook her.

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**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know your thoughts in a review!**

**Unless it ends up being really long (though I don't think it will), I think the next chapter will be the last one :'(**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Tomorrow morning, they were leaving Shell Cottage.

Most of the day was spent doing last minute packing and going through the plan over and over again. All of them, except for Griphook, were getting jittery with nervousness and excitement.

"Did you put Bill's tent in your bag?"

"Yes."

"And the polyjuice potion is ready? You have the hair?"

"Yes."

"Ron, you told Bill and Fleur not to see us off?"

"Yup."

"Any ideas on how to get away without giving the sword to Griphook?"

"No."

"I'm sure the moment will come to us."

"I hope so, we really need it."

Ron put his head down on his pillow, but he didn't feel tired at all. He tried to will himself to sleep, but so many thoughts were rushing through his head. What if something went wrong? What if they got caught? What if one of them got hurt? What if Hermione got hurt? Hermione. She had the most difficult role to play out of all of them tomorrow. Ron's heart ached for her. She was going to impersonate the very woman who tortured her and hurt countless others. She was probably feeling much worse than him right now. Maybe he should check on her. He wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon.

Ron was about to step onto the first stair when Harry said from his sleeping bag "She's outside."

Ron was a little startled. "Huh?"

"Hermione went outside while you were in the bathroom brushing your teeth."

"Oh." Ron knew exactly where she would be once Harry said that. The swing. "Thanks."

He was about to walk out the back door when Harry called after him, "Hey Ron."

Ron turned around. "Yeah?"

Harry had sat up. "Thanks. Thanks for coming back and staying. I know this is hard and you must be missing out on a lot of things."

"Harry, if it wasn't for that horc—" Ron stopped. Harry had put his hands up and then pointed to where Dean was sleeping. "If it wasn't for that necklace, I would have never thought of leaving. And I wouldn't want to not be a part of this. You don't have to thank me mate."

"I do. Now go and woo her."

Sure enough, Ron could hear the squeaking of the swing as he approached it. He tried to be silent as he neared the opening between the trellises. He wanted to watch her for a few seconds.

He smiled. She really seemed to be enjoying herself. Her hair was down and he liked how it looked as it flew back in the wind. At one point, she leaned back and closed her eyes. She looked so carefree, so happy, and he didn't want to ruin it. He turned to walk back to the house, he could wait for her in there. As he turned though, his shoulder accidentally brushed against the vines, making a rustling noise. It wasn't that loud, but it was loud enough for Hermione to hear.

"Ron!"

"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

She dragged the heels of her feet on the ground to stop the swing. "What are you doing out here?"

Ron panicked and strayed from what he really came out there to say. "What are you doing out here?" He crossed his arms. "You should be sleeping."

"I asked you first. And you should be sleeping too!" She looked him straight in the eye.

His gaze wavered and he uncrossed his arms. "I just wanted to see if you were okay…with, you know, what we're doing tomorrow."

"I think it's a little late to be asking that."

"You know what I mean."

Hermione sighed, "Ron, we have to do it. There is a very good chance there is a horcrux or something important in that vault. I may not be completely comfortable with what we have to do to get in it, but it will be worth it."

"It better be worth it. I think this one will be harder than the Ministry."

"We are more prepared though." Hermione tried to sound optimistic. "We'll have Griphook to help us."

"Yeah, as long as he doesn't trick us."

"Please, don't—" Hermione shook her head.

Ron could have slapped himself. He was upsetting her. "I'm not being very helpful, am I? Here, let me say something positive." He walked right in front of her and then got onto his knees so that they were about eye level. He then did something very bold by his standards and took her hands off of the ropes of the swing and held them in his own. "Hermione, this time, I won't let anyone hurt you. I won't let anyone take you away from me."

Her eyes widened and she said very softly, "You don't have to say that."

"No." Ron said fiercely. "I _need_ to say that because I mean it."

Hermione couldn't help but give a little smile. "What would I do without you?"

Ron released her hands. "Don't you already know the answer to that?" He said darkly.

Hermione realized that he was referring to when he left, so she quickly said, "Oh Ron, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"No, I shouldn't have brought it up." Ron said sadly.

Hermione then took his hands back. "I would be miserable."

"What?"

"I was and would be miserable without you."

Ron brightened up. "Really?"

"Yes."

Ron stood up and walked behind her.

"What are you doing?"

"Just hold on." He put his hands on her waist, pulled her back, and then pushed her.

Ron grinned when Hermione let out a small giggle as he continued to push her on the swing. He wished he didn't have to stop, but he did when she said, "Promise me."

"Promise you what?"

When the swing came to a complete stop, she twisted around to face him. "That you won't leave me. Promise that you will stay with me."

Ron grabbed the ropes of the swing, and then did something that surprised even himself, and kissed her on the forehead. "I promise to stay with you."

The End

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**Author's Note: So that's it for this story! I thought this would be a good spot to end at and it's a happy coincidence that the story ended up being eighteen chapters and Ron and Hermione were 18 during the story (I like doing sentimental things with numbers). I hope you all enjoyed it, I know I did. Lastly, I especially want to say a big "THANK YOU!"** **to everyone who has read it and followed it from the beginning and have been kind enough to write such lovely reviews! I love you all for reading! 3**

**P.S. For those of you wanting some more Ron/Hermione, look for my owl on September 1st!**


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